Getting my shit together

36 meals ready to go.  Takeaway at it's finest :)

Yes, I am.

I know what I need to do.  Why then do I find it so difficult to be consistent?  Wednesday for example.  Our first weekly weigh in for Round 4.  I lost 4.4kg!  Really, really happy with that.  Yet that night my mindset went a bit haywire and I was teasing myself with thoughts of self sabotage AKA comfort food.

#icompletelyfrustratemyself

I was driving home, thinking these thoughts, and I noticed the letters on the number plate of the car in front of me.  "MSH"  I'm not even joking.  Seriously, Mish!  How does she do that??  However weird that was, it worked!  The 'MSH car' was in front of me for such a big distance and I kept staring at it and counteracting my thoughts with better ones.  I got home and didn't eat any crap.  I don't want to and I don't plan on doing that.  To be honest the next day wasn't crash hot but I've been thinking a lot about the quote (see picture) that a couple of friends found for me the other day.

In essence, the question is:

"How much do I want this?"

A lot.

It's so damn hard though!  Caterpillars are easy.  Caterpillars are familiar.  Caterpillars are safe.  Caterpillars can eat pizza with a chocolate chaser.  You know what I mean.  They are good.  But I want to be a butterfly more.

So this week I've been trying to set myself up for a successful round.  I know that one of the two biggest reasons I failed last time was due to poor planning.  So I'm trying to change things, improve on my planning and do everything I can think of to help me succeed.  Essentially trying to start this round how I intend to finish it.  Some are my ideas, some are borrowed from friends and strangers, but each one is really simple and worth trying.

So here's what I've been doing:

My inspiration and goal wall

• Working on my goals.  You gotta have a plan!  I didn't work on my goals last round.  Here's a link to what I have planned: Aiming for the moon: The Plan

• Working on my pre-season tasks.  I am still working on these.  They are  the magical, essential ingredient to success.

• I made an inspiration wall (finally).  I've been 'meaning to' do this.  It's in my home gym and I'll add to it. It's just different things to inspire me.  I love it :)

Little bright reminders around my apartment

• I've written my weight loss goal for the next week onto bright cards and stuck it up around my house. I'll update these each week.  They're on the fridge, in my gym, on the back of my front door, in my bedroom etc.  I know weekly goal weights are not the best thing to aim for but this is more about keeping me focussed.  I truly don't have my heart and soul set on this number - it's just an aim - and wherever my body falls each Wednesday will be as a result of the work I did and my body that day.  This number and the little cards are just regular visual reminders of what I am working towards, very short term.

Breaking it down

• I've made a couple of countdowns.  One is a "how many kg's do I have left to lose" countdown - I modelled this off a quite infamous design by McGee Inc.  The other one is a 10kg lost goal countdown.

• I bought some cheapie water bottles to keep me on track with my water intake.  Thanks Leanne ;)  There will be an upcoming post about this.  I have to drink about 4L a day.  I thought I drank this already but I don't measure it and I have a feeling I'm not as good as I thought.

Drink before 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 6pm, 8pm & 10pm

• I'm starting to take multivitamins.  I haven't been able to all year due to my medication but now I am able to again.  I've been 'able to' since August yet haven't taken one to date.  So I am setting myself a reminder to take this daily.  Not an essential thing, but every little thing helps.

• I've finally got myself organised with printing out my nutrition and exercise plans for easy access when I'm cooking/training.

Some goal clothes on the back of my gym door

• I did a big cook up to stock my freezer full of 12WBT meals to start off with, and I plan on doing a cook up each week.  (Although I may skip next week as I have no room left in my freezer!)

• I still have to subscribe to and start following as many blogs as I can.  Weight loss blogs inspire me, but I haven't had the time to follow any.  I feel awful as people are so nice to me with mine and I don't get to give them the same respect by reading theirs.  It's just a matter of me being organised - so I will set this up so that I can follow some of these awesome blogs.  I 'meant to' do this in Round 3 but didn't organise myself to make this happen, and it didn't happen.  Funny that. :)

Surrounding myself with inspiration

• As well as the blogs, next up is to update my diary/calendar and also redo my training plan and stick it up.  And I have my star stickers ready.  You are never too old for star stickers.

So that is what I have been focussed on this week.  I'm just trying to set myself up to be consistent and organised.  I love being organised but have failed at this lately.

The black one shoulder dress, a Week 12 goal

If you have any other ideas please let me know - every little thing helps.

This is simple stuff but it hasn't been an easy process, for a few reasons.

But I chose to GET UP.  So I am.

Lotsa love, Coco xoxo

Weight loss countdown

Butterflies everywhere

I have this hanging up in my hallway

Reminders in the form of butterflies...

Multivitamins, finally.

:)

Transformation in progress ;)

Fruit and veges!

I have never bought so many mushrooms before

Exercise and nutrition plans